Still Searching
by A. Windsor
Summary: Sequel to Searching For That Happy Ending. Isabella Roxton has returned to her own time. The final chapter is up! Is it the happy ending she's wanted all along? Please Read and Review!
1. Back to the Future

Author's Note: I'm ba-ack. Hello! This is the sequel to Searching for that Happy Ending. It will most likely turn out to be the second part of a trilogy. I hope you enjoy it. This one is set completely in Isabella's time. She's returned, but is anything different?  
  
Disclaimer: I own Isabella, Nathaniel, Layton, Jane, Cobi, Henry, Gabrielle and other citizens of New London. The Lost World Plateau and characters, well, I'm just borrowing them and torturing them with emotional pain.  
  
P.S. This one should be a bit brighter.  
John Roxton stormed down the grand staircase of his New London home.  
  
"Where is she?" he boomed. He was in a rage and his help knew to give him wide girth. "Henry!"  
  
A man in his mid-thirties turned from his place at the door and was quickly at the lord's side.  
  
"Yes, M'Lord," he answered obediently. The butler wore his best finery, as the entire staff did for today the master of the house was getting remarried.  
  
"Where is Isabella?" Roxton asked in a calm, icy tone.  
  
"I have not see the Lady Roxton, sir. Not since breakfast. I was looking for her about party arrangements. But I didn't think it odd she was gone, sir. She dislikes planning this party."  
  
The older man cringed. "Go get Layton Malone. I need him immediately."  
  
"Yes, sir," Henry bowed, taking his leave to run over to the Malone residence down the road.  
  
Roxton stomped into the parlor and slumped onto a couch. A young maid timidly brought him a glass of water. He nodded, adjusted his tuxedo tie, and barked a gruff "thank you."  
  
A couple minutes later, the large front door swung open and light footsteps approached the back of the couch.  
  
"You called for me, Uncle John?"  
  
It was a tenor voice, swiftly changing to baritone. The tone sounded respectful, but a mocking air swept around it.  
  
"Where is my daughter, Layton?"  
  
"I haven't seen her since last night, sir," he answered, stepping around to stare at him. He was dressed nicely as well, his tuxedo jacket draped over his arm.  
  
"Last night? What were you doing with her last night?"  
  
"Talking," Layton blushed. "She is understandably upset about today."  
  
"So she's told us all," Roxton snorted.  
  
"Uncle John, have you thought to ask Nathaniel?"  
  
The lord focused on the blond boy.  
  
"Nathan-boy? Why?"  
  
"Because, in case you haven't noticed, he's been her constant companion over the last couple the years, whether she wanted him or not. He would know the most of anyone."  
  
"Where is he?"  
  
"With his mother, I presume."  
  
"Go get him. I need to find Isabella."  
  
"Yes, sir," Layton answered, exiting the grand parlor in a swift, silent run he'd inherited from his mother.  
  
When he returned, a young boy of five was at his side.  
  
"You wanted me, Uncle John?" he asked, his child's voice barely filling the room.  
  
"Have you seen Isabella, Nathan?"  
  
"Bella left."  
  
"What?!" Roxton and Layton cried.  
  
"Not again," the lord sighed.  
  
"We've got to find her."  
  
"Henry! Call off the wedding and spread the word. There will be no marriage until my daughter is found," Roxton announced, rising and going to change.  
"Isabella! Isabella, thank God! Finally!"  
  
It was Layton's voice that woke her. She was back in her own time, but had anything changed?  
  
She felt her head lifted off of the dead leaves on the ground as she struggled to open her eyes. Layton cradled her head in his lap and gently tried to wake her.  
  
"Goodness, Layton Malone. You look more like your father every day."  
  
"Oh Bella, you're okay!" he gushed, brushing curls out of her face.  
  
"Yes, Layton," she groaned, "Sore, but okay. Where is everyone?"  
  
"Looking for you. Your dad postponed the wedding to look for you. We've been all over the plateau."  
  
"So nothing changed," she whispered, choking back her tears and punching the ground.  
  
"Bella? Are you okay?"  
  
"No," she eeked out to her best friend. And then she spilled her story. 


	2. Returned Runaways

"You're telling me you went back in time? That's absurd, Bella." Layton laid the back of his hand on Isabella's forehead, searching for a fever. "You certainly hit your head very hard."  
  
"I'm telling the truth, Layton," she cried. "I swear it, on Jack's grave, I do."  
  
"I know you think that's what happened, Bella, but in your state hallucinations do happen."  
  
"You sound like Challenger. Why can't you believe in the magic of the Plateau? You of all people should understand that."  
  
Layton sighed, pulling his long legs under him into a cross legged position. "I'm not even going to pretend to understand my mother and Jane. But time travel? That's crazy."  
  
"But it happened, I swear! And it was amazing, seeing my parents. They were so happy together. Like before, when we were little."  
  
His blue eyes glanced upward, watching her rise and begin to pace. His smile was soft and almost sympathizing. "You always want things to be like they were. Things just can't go back."  
  
She glanced back at him, her gray eyes gentle with appreciation. "Are you always this brutally honest?"  
  
Layton nodded.  
  
Isabella sighed. "Well thank you. You keep me in perspective. So, Father really postponed the wedding?"  
  
"Yes, when he found out you split on the morning of his wedding, he wouldn't go through with it until you were found."  
  
"I assumed he wouldn't care and just keep going. I bet Gabrielle isn't happy."  
  
"No, not really. I'd avoid her if I were you." He looked away, trying to spend as little time as possible on their morbid secret.  
  
"Don't worry, Layton. I'll be fine." It was a lie, they both knew it, but neither addressed it.  
  
Layton unfolded his legs and stood, brushing his hands on his khaki pants and reaching for the tether of his horse which stood tied to the fence post.  
  
"Come on, Isabella, let's go home." He offered her his hand and helped her on to the horse before swinging himself on with her.  
  
"Do we have to?"  
  
"Yes, I'm afraid we do. My mom is worried sick about you, as is Professor Challenger. And Jane's been a wreck."  
  
"And Finn?"  
  
He kicked the horse's sides lightly to get him started and steered him out of the clearing. "She is helping your dad look for you."  
  
"And you get the glory of finding me," Isabella laughed, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her head on his back. She closed her eyes, enjoying the warmth of the plateau sun, and didn't see his face blush scarlet.  
~ ~ ~  
"Sir, the sentries reported seeing Layton and Isabella approaching the city from the south. They'll be here soon."  
  
John Roxton hid his relief and nodded his thanks.  
  
"I told you Layton would find her. He always has. They've got a connection," his old friend Ned Malone told him, seated in a chair at the end of a long table with a glass of water. "Are you going to go meet them? Or wait for her to come crawling back to you apologetically?"  
  
"That'll never happen," Roxton half-laughed. "It's not in her nature. She doesn't apologize."  
  
"Reminds me of some other people I know. Like her parents." Lord Roxton didn't reply, seating himself on the other end of the table.  
  
"Challenger is almost finished with our way home."  
  
"Isabella won't leave while there is a possibility her mother is still on the plateau."  
  
"She won't? Or you won't?"  
  
Before Roxton could answer, the door to the parlor swung open.  
  
"Your runaway has returned," Gabrielle commented, sweeping into the room with Layton, and Isabella in tow. She immediately took her place at Roxton's side and Isabella looked away in disgust.  
  
"Layton, let's go, your mother has dinner on the table," Ned said, rising from the table.  
  
"Yes, sir."  
  
His gaze fell to Isabella and lingered slightly longer than a friendly glance. He whispered "Good luck" and was gone. She felt oddly alone.  
  
"Gabrielle, my daughter and I have much to talk about, so we'll have dinner alone tonight. The dining room is set for you and Nathan."  
  
The woman opened her mouth to object, but instead glared at Bella and then left, but not without kissing John first.  
  
"Edythe, dinner for the Lady and I?"  
  
The maid nodded, "Yes, M'Lord," and then hurried to the kitchen.  
  
Isabella sat uncomfortably at the other end of the table.  
  
"You are angry."  
  
"I was worried," he corrected.  
  
"And now you're angry."  
  
"Now I'm still worried, Isabella. I know you don't want me to marry Gabrielle and you want everything to go back to the way it was, but it can't."  
  
"That's what Layton said," she said quietly, looking down at the hands folded in her lap.  
  
"He's a smart boy. What worries me is the fact you would leave everyone you love just to prove a point."  
  
"I thought it was the other way around," Bella mumbled under her breath.  
  
"What?"  
  
"The people I love did more leaving than I ever have. And mine was never permanent," she clarified.  
  
Roxton looked at his jaded young daughter in a new light, then. He saw how broken and fragile she really was. At that moment, their food was brought in and saved Roxton from responding.  
  
"So, Bella. what have you been up to for the past few days?" he asked to break the tension enveloping the room.  
  
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Isabella blushed into her soup as she, lady-like, raised the spoon to her lips.  
  
"Where did Layton find you?" he tried again.  
  
"The old tree house," she answered without looking up.  
  
John nearly dropped his spoon, but regained his composure.  
  
"Is that where you spent the time?"  
  
"More or less," Isabella said truthfully. "Really, Father, I'm not all that hungry and I'm feeling very grimy. If I could be excused?"  
  
John gave a puzzled nod; Isabella was never "not hungry". She was pulling a classic Marguerite move. He could only imagine where she'd learned it.  
~ ~ ~  
"Lady Roxton, you have a message from the Zanga village," Henry told her, knocking lightly on her bedroom door.  
  
"Come in, Henry," Isabella sighed, a tired smile on her face.  
  
He smiled and nodded. The butler handed her a neatly folded piece of paper.  
  
"Do you need anything, Lady Isabella?"  
  
"No, I'm okay, thank you. If Layton comes, send him in."  
  
Henry patted her on the back. "It's good to have you back, M'Lady." With that, he took his leave.  
  
Isabella opened the paper and looked it over. It was in Henry's neat script, which meant a Zanga messenger had come with a verbal message just for her, but found her not her. Good Henry must've thought it was important to copy it down.  
  
"Bella-sa." It started. She immediately knew it was from Cobi or Assai, because they were the only two who called her that. It was the Zanga word for "Wind child" and had been her nickname for as long as she could remember.  
  
She continued to read:  
  
"We've found her, come quickly. We're doing our best to detain her, but we down know how much longer we can. Assai & Cobi"  
  
Bella dropped the note and forgot to breathe for a moment.  
  
The door swung open unannounced. It was Gabrielle and she was mighty mad.  
  
"You! How dare you?"  
  
Isabella backed up as Gabrielle approached her. Crack. Thud. A small yelp.  
  
"My wedding! All my plans! You just had to run, had to bring it all crashing down!"  
  
"He's still to marry you," Isabella wept, "I couldn't change that."  
  
She was kicked and heard her knee pop. Her tears poured faster, harder, backed by all of the pain and betrayal.  
  
"He is rethinking his decision! He is no longer sure."  
  
"Because he remembers whom he truly loves," she croaked, trying to weakly shake her curls out of her face. Bella braced herself and was hit again.  
  
"Mind you mouth."  
  
"He loves my mother! Always has and he always will!" she cried, regain courage. "Now get out of my room."  
  
Gabrielle raised her hand to strike again but was stayed by a little boy's voice.  
  
"Bella! You're back!"  
  
Nathan ran in and tried to hug Isabella, but stopped short, seeing her bloody and weak on top of a broken table.  
  
"Mama? Bella? What happened?"  
  
"Nothing," Gabrielle said too quickly.  
  
"I'll go get Uncle John," he said nervously.  
  
Gabrielle grabbed his arm and shook him violently. "You'll do no such thing. You'll keep this to yourself!"  
  
Nathan's baby blues widened in shock and fear as he let out a small yelp. "Mama! You're hurting me!"  
  
But Gabrielle's grip only got tighter and the boy began to squirm. Isabella couldn't stand to watch another child be tortured the way she was. Gathering all her energy and leaning heavily on her right leg, she did something for the first time in her life; she hit Gabrielle back. 


	3. Mixed Emotions

Gabrielle reeled back in horror. Had the weakling just hit her back? She raised her hand to defend herself and strike Isabella again, but Nathaniel cried out.  
  
"Mum, no!"  
  
Gabrielle looked at her young son's innocent eyes and couldn't go through with it. Another glance at the brooding, frighteningly powerful gray eyes of the Lady Isabella Roxton, and she turned and left.  
  
Isabella collapsed as the adrenaline bled from her body. Her knee gave out and she crumpled to the floor.  
  
"Bella? You okay?" Nathan inquired, shaking from the incident. He looked into Isabella's eyes with a worried look.  
  
"I.I'm fine. Go get some clothes. Anything you want for a long trip. Hurry, Nathan-boy," Isabella managed, shooing Nathan along and trying to pull herself up.  
  
Nathan ran out of her room and into his. Isabella stumbled through her room, grabbing the spare bag she always kept for occasions such as these. Minutes later, Nathan ran back in, an overstuffed pack on his back.  
  
"Go tell Henry I need a horse. Just tell him that Bella needs a horse. Say those exact words, Nathan." "Bella needs a horse. Bella needs a horse," Nathaniel repeated to himself as he ran out of the room.  
  
Isabella began to form the plan in her mind. She couldn't let little Nathan go through her pain. They had to get out of here....  
~*~*~  
"Nathan-boy, where are you going so quickly?" Layton laughed as he watched the boy run out to the Roxton stable.  
  
"Horse for Bella," Nathan chirped, running along his way. Layton paused and grabbed his arm lightly.  
  
"Wait, hold up. Why does Bella need a horse?"  
  
Nathan shrugged. "She told me to get it and to pack for a big trip."  
  
Layton sighed and let Nathan go because Henry was calling for him. The boy knew exactly what Isabella had in mind and hurried to his home to pack himself a bag.  
~*~*~  
Favoring her left leg, Isabella limped over to her saddled horse. His name was Riptide, a young gelding she'd seen raised from colt-hood. She finished adjusting the straps of the saddle and bridle, making sure her broad sword, a present from her visit to Camelot two years ago, was firmly attached and out of the way.  
  
Nathan climbed the fence and struggled onto patient Riptide's back. Now came the hard part, somehow pulling herself onto the horse without admitting how much her dislocated knee was hurting her.  
  
"Hold on, let me help you," said an all-too familiar voice from behind her.  
  
"Layton." she sighed. "Please don't try to stop me."  
  
She didn't even turn to look at him as he slid from off of his mount, his beloved mare Abby.  
  
"I'm not going to stop you this time, Isabella," he said softly as he helped her onto Riptide in behind Nathan. "I just want to go with you and make sure you are safe."  
  
Isabella looked down from her seat to his handsome, well-known face inset with blue, caring eyes and smiled in gratitude. "If you insist."  
  
Layton nodded and returned her grin. "Anything to keep you safe."  
~*~*~  
The loud cracks of the fire blended with the chirping of insects as the night grew longer. Nathaniel Woods slept soundly at his Isabella's feet, curled in a small ball with a coarse blanket pulled up to cover all but his unruly strawberry blond hair and innocent face. Isabella stared into the fire as she sat on the leaf-covered ground wrapped in her Zanga blanket. Her knee was killing her and the bruises on her face and reopened wounds on her arms were throbbing in pain. Still, she repressed it. Isabella hated to show her pain. Her thoughts lingered on the note she'd received. Would her mother still be there? And what would she say if she were? Would her own mother even recognize her now?  
  
"She hurt you badly this time. You walk with a limp," Layton commented, lowering himself into a cross-legged seat beside her and feeding kindling into the campfire.  
  
"It isn't as bad as it seems."  
  
Layton saw immediately through her lies and frowned in her direction. "Then why are you running away?"  
  
"I'm not running away," Isabella said, a little icier than she'd have liked. "I'm saving him. Saving him from going through what I did."  
  
Her best friend's eyes widened in realization and the horses' snorts and padding of the ground could be heard in his astonished silence.  
  
"She hurt him?"  
  
"Grabbed him, shook him, was going to hit him. It's all the same. Once she did it once, she'd do it again. I thought he was safe. He is her own son, for God's sake. And he's barely older than an infant."  
  
"You've done the right thing," Layton assured her but she sensed the half-truth in his voice.  
  
"Layton," she said.  
  
"Yes?" He visibly perked at her call, turning to look directly in her eyes.  
  
"My mother's going to be there when we reach Cobi's."  
  
Layton's brows raised and under any other circumstances Isabella would've laughed at her friend's animated facial features. "How do you know?" he swallowed.  
  
"Cobi and Assai sent a messenger with a note while I was gone."  
  
"That's wonderful. You found her!" His smile reached from ear to ear to express his genuine excitement for her.  
  
"Yes, but I'm scared. What if she doesn't like me?"  
  
Layton laughed lightly. "Isabella Roxton, who doesn't like you?"  
  
"Gabrielle," Isabella whispered.  
  
"Who with an entire brain who isn't a psycho bitch? No one. Everyone loves you. And she's your mother. She loved you before and still loves you now."  
  
"I'm not that little girl she left behind, Layton. I'm different."  
  
"I know. I, of all people, know that you have grown up." He blushed slightly in the glow of the fire and turned from staring at her.  
  
Layton Malone had a crush, and he was the only one around that campfire who knew it.  
  
"Listen, Bella, you are a beautiful, amazing, kind person. Anyone who can't see that and can't love you incredibly for it, it just plain stupid."  
  
"My dear Layton Malone, I do believe you're blushing," she teased to hide her own reddening of cheeks.  
  
"Yeah, well," he shrugged with a casual grin, hiding his nervousness. Ever so slowly he leaned into her, working up the courage to do what he'd wanted to do for months now. She, too, felt herself being drawn in, no matter how she fought it.  
  
Suddenly, though, there was a loud crack from the fire, spoiling the moment and bringing Isabella back to her senses. She pulled away.  
  
"I, I, I should get some rest. Will you take first watch?"  
  
Layton hid the momentary flash of disappointment, smiled and nodded. "Of course."  
  
"Promise to wake me?"  
  
"I swear."  
  
"Thank you, Layton," Isabella whispered and she pulled him close for a hug, much like the ones they'd exchanged often in their lives, but with something strangely different involved.  
  
"Of course, Bella."  
  
~*~*~  
Isabella slipped off the horse with the help of a Zanga man. She grabbed her sword and strapped it firmly around her waist, letting the other bags stay on the horse two Zanga boys were leading away for water. Nathaniel stood to her left and as they walked to the "main square" of the village she kept a hand on his shoulder for support. Layton noticed her limp and quickly traded spots with Nathan.  
  
"What happened?" Assai asked, rushing to them.  
  
"Gab." Layton started.  
  
"It's not important," Isabella cut him off. "Is she still here?"  
  
Assai cast a worried glance at the girl but nodded. "In there."  
  
"Bella-sa!" Cobi called, emerging from a group of young men. "Are you all right?"  
  
"Fine," Bella grimaced, mis-stepping on her left.  
  
"Stop lying," Cobi admonished, looking to her knee. "Gabrielle?"  
  
Isabella nodded, annoyed. "It doesn't matter. Take me to her." She urged Layton forward, but Cobi stood in front of them, imposing with his broad, tan shoulders and midnight hair pulled to the nape of his neck.  
  
"You aren't walking anymore than you need to." There was a bit of a devilish twinkle in his eyes and he smiled knowingly at Layton. Understanding, Layton ducked from underneath Bella's arm as Cobi scooped her up.  
  
"Jacobi!" Isabella protested, "Put me down!"  
  
Cobi laughed and Nathan giggled as he followed them. Cobi spun Isabella around and her cries of objection made the entire village chuckle.  
  
"Cobi! Careful!" Isabella warned.  
  
In the commotion, Assai slipped into a nearby hut. She came back with a protesting woman in tow.  
  
"Assai! What is that ruckuss?"  
  
"Relax, Isabella, you're safe," Cobi was saying.  
  
"Bella," Layton laughed, "Stop worrying."  
  
"Oh, this from Layton Malone!" Isabella retorted over the din.  
  
The woman's gray eyes widened and her face paled.  
  
"Why did you send for her?" she asked Assai. "I can't face her."  
  
"Cobi, enough!" Assai called to her son in Zanga, then said to her companion, "I sent for her because she's spent the last five years looking for you. She's in trouble and she needs her mother."  
  
"No. She needs A mother. And a good one. Like you. What trouble is she in? Roxton can take care of her."  
  
"No," Assai hissed, "He can't. Look at her. In every movement, every feature, he sees you! The pain of losing you paralyzes him. He can't help her."  
  
"Mother?" Isabella cried as the world stopped turning. "Cobi, put me down this instant!"  
  
Instead, Cobi carried her to her mother's feet and gently set her down. She staggered a few steps before the pain made her face twist and she nearly collapsed. Layton and Cobi caught her and supported her.  
  
Marguerite looked her over in surprise. Her white blouse was soiled with dirt smudges and a hint of dried blood. Her khaki skirt was similar. The sword seemed out of place in her ensemble, low on her waist. Her long, brunette curls were held back in a ponytail, revealing a cut and bruised face, a nasty contusion under her eye. The parts of her arms visible were laced with healing bruises as well.  
  
"What's wrong?" she whispered.  
  
"Just my knee," Isabella smiled bravely. "Got it dislocated... maybe strained a few ligaments."  
  
"Bella," Assai said comfortingly.  
  
Isabella's cheeks flushed with anger and embarrassment.  
  
"I think my mum did it," Nathan said softly from behind Layton.  
  
"Nathan-boy," Bella sighed, "Don't worry your young head about it."  
  
"But she hurt you, Bella!" Nathan cried.  
  
Marguerite gasped. "What does he mean? Who is his mother?"  
  
"Gabrielle Woods. Uncle John's fiancée," Layton answered.  
  
Isabella couldn't meet her mother's eyes.  
  
"She has a long history of this," Cobi added.  
  
Bella shot him a look with menace in it.  
  
"It's the truth, Isabella, and it needs to come out," Layton scolded, "She beats you, regularly."  
  
"Does your father know?" Marguerite asked.  
  
"No, he wouldn't believe me if I told him. I'm just an over-dramatic kid to them."  
  
"What are you talking about? You're the Lady Roxton, a respectable member of society from a respectable background," Layton protested.  
  
"It is well know that I hold no amity for Gabrielle. Why wouldn't I make it up to try to get her out of my life? It doesn't matter anymore. We come to save Nathan-boy that pain. And to see if the elusive one will escape again."  
  
Her eyes rested on Marguerite and in the presence of this broken girl, her betrayed teenage daughter, she felt two inches tall.  
  
"We have much to catch up on, Mother," Isabella finished softly, relaxing back into the support of her friends.  
  
"Perhaps dinner is in order," Cobi offered.  
Author's Note: Wow. Was that reunion good enough? What do y'all think? Review please! 


	4. Confrontations

"Isabella Elizabeth Roxton!"  
  
Isabella froze at the furious scream, recognizing her father's voice immediately. Others around the fire spun to look at the source of the familiar voice and Isabella marveled at this unexpected turn of events. Her father stormed into view and Isabella heard her mother let out a half- hidden gasp.  
  
"Isabella, are you all right?" Roxton asked, crossing quickly to her. "Do you understand how worried we've been? Your room was a mess and there was blood all over your sheets. When you and Nathan turned up missing, we thought the worst."  
  
"We?" Isabella questioned, looking up from her seat on the ground, flanked by Cobi and Layton with Marguerite sitting across from her.  
  
"Gabrielle and I, of course." Roxton looked down to her.  
  
Bella scoffed and glanced away.  
  
Unable to be angry with his daughter after discovering she was alive, he turned his ire towards the Zanga prince to her right.  
  
"You! You did this, didn't you? What did you do to her? I swear, I'll kill you for this!"  
  
"Father!" Isabella objected. "I came here on my own! Cobi had nothing to do with this."  
  
Cobi rose at the accusation, pride wounded and anger reaching the boiling point. "If you wish to place blame for your daughter's condition, look no further than behind you. She came to me seeking asylum, something I could do nothing but give her, knowing what happened."  
  
Roxton glanced behind him at the nervous Gabrielle. Marguerite rose from her seat and quietly moved to where the commotion was taking place.  
  
"What the hell are you talking about?" Roxton asked, shooting a venomous look in Jacobi's direction.  
  
"Abuse, John," Marguerite answered for the young man. "Constant, recurrent, physical abuse."  
  
No one could miss the cold tension in her voice. Isabella looked to her mother in surprise as Layton helped her to her feet.  
  
"Abuse you failed to notice for five years because you were too busy screwing the nanny!"  
  
John recoiled and opened his mouth in speechless shock. His Marguerite was here. After all this time she had returned. But what were they talking about? Abuse? Of who? By who? Why did his estranged wife's voice hold so much contempt and hatred for him?  
  
"What in bloody hell are you doing here? And what are you people talking about?"  
  
"Gabrielle beats your daughter, Lord Roxton," Layton told him, feeling his bile rise as usual when they discussed this horrid subject. "You were about to marry Isabella's tormentor."  
  
"What?!" Roxton and Gabrielle cried in unison. Roxton spun around to face his fiancée.  
  
"Is that true?"  
  
"John, I don't know what they're talking about!" Gabrielle defended indignantly. "That's nonsense. I love your daughter as if she were my own! I couldn't harm a hair on her head. She is just clumsy and rowdy, that's how she hurts herself. And you know she hates me! She has every reason to create this slander against me."  
  
"Oh, shove it, Gabrielle!" Isabella cried. "I may hate you, I may be clumsy and I may be rowdy, but God knows I'm not a liar. You hate me because I am everything you are against. You wish to banish my father's memories of my mother so you can have him all to yourself. But are you so stupid as to not see what is happening? Why do you think it took him five years to agree to marry you? He's never stopped loving her. Don't you get it? Can't you wrap your puny mind around that? He. Loves. Her. He loves her! Get that through your thick skull! Hurting me isn't going to change that. Nothing will. And certainly not hurting your own son! You're truly a sick bitch, Gabrielle. Nathan's innocent!"  
  
As Isabella had ranted on about her father's love, Roxton and Marguerite could do nothing other than look at each other. Their eyes locked and the guilt in their eyes was almost tangible between them.  
  
"I'm the sick one?" Gabrielle exclaimed. "At least I am not holding on to a distant memory for dear life and carrying the banner of the lost cause of your parents' love. You cannot go back, Isabella! You cannot live in the past! You cannot be so damn perfect!"  
  
Isabella blinked in surprise after the last comment.  
  
"What?!"  
  
"You know what I mean! The entire city loves you! Your father absolutely adores you. You're sweet, kind, fiery, talented, and beautiful. You have two teenage boys following you around like lost puppies, waiting to do your whim. My son cries out for you when he is frightened at night, not me. When his knee is skinned, he runs to you. All of New London society is completely enamored with your charm! Why can't they see through the lies like I do? Why can't they take you off of that damn pedestal? 'What is it like living with the Lady Roxton?' the women ask. 'You must be so proud of the way your charge has turned out.' 'The poor Roxtons, losing mother and son like that, it is a wonder Lady Isabella has turned out so well.' That's all they ever say! All they ever talk about is you! They tell me how charming you are. They ask me how it can be that such a sweet girl has such distaste for me. It's all they ever do! I had to do it! I had to knock you off of your throne and show you what you really were. Useless! Worthless! A spoiled, vaunted bitch!"  
  
Assai covered Nathan's ears during the last half of his mother's screamed speech. Isabella's mind raced. She'd never thought Gabrielle was actually jealous of her. What was there to be jealous of? Being motherless? Brotherless? Lost in a world that never understood her? This was to be desired?  
  
"Don't you dare talk to my daughter that way!" Marguerite cried, slapping Gabrielle across the face. "Haven't you done enough damage? You have no right!"  
  
"And now you care about her? You abandoned her! You saw her worthlessness too!"  
  
"Stop it!" Isabella screamed. "Stop it!"  
  
Everyone turned to look at her.  
  
"This is ridiculous! Get me out of here, Layton. Cobi, is my room empty?"  
  
"It is always ready and waiting for its occupant," Cobi answered gently, helping Layton move her away from the fighting.  
  
The entire area cleared, Assai taking Nathan to play with younger Zanga children and the other Zangas going about their business. That left only Marguerite, Roxton, and Gabrielle.  
  
"Leave us," Roxton said lowly over his shoulder. There was disgust in the undertones of his voice.  
  
"But, John, I," Gabrielle protested.  
  
"I said leave us. We will discuss this later."  
  
"John!"  
  
"Please," Roxton pleaded. "I don't know what to say to you right now."  
  
"You actually believe her? John, she's a little liar!"  
  
"She's my daughter, Gabrielle! My little girl! My precious Isabella. Hurting her is like hurting me. Leave now."  
  
Gabrielle pouted, shaking her strawberry blonde hair as if she has been wronged, and returned to the outskirts of the village.  
  
"Whatever do you see in her?" Marguerite asked, wrinkling her nose. "I always thought you more the jungle princess kind."  
  
"I don't need this, Marguerite," he answered, not looking her in the eye and wringing his hands together in front of him.  
  
"I think you do, Lord John Roxton. How could you not see it? Look at her bruises, her scars. And I've only seen the ones not covered by her dress. The boys imply that this is a regular occurrence, this beating. Hell, they don't imply, they straight out say it!"  
  
"So this is all my fault? Maybe if you hadn't left she would not have been in this position. Maybe if you stayed you would have spotted it earlier. Hell, maybe she would confide in you. As it was, I was doing my best to raise a heart-broken child while nursing a broken heart of my own."  
  
"You once swore you would follow me to the ends of the earth, John! But you never came after me five years ago."  
  
"Marguerite! You left me days after our son's death! I was grieving, too! I was just supposed to drop everything, my daughter, my son's funeral, just to come chasing after you?"  
  
"Don't! Don't bring Jack into this!" Tears sparkled in Marguerite's eyes at the mention of her baby boy. "I don't need any guilt from that, too! He was my son, too, John!"  
  
"Well, it sure didn't seem like it when you skipped out of town before his funeral!"  
  
"Look at you, unable to deal with your own guilt about Isabella so you turn Jack on me!"  
  
Roxton turned away from her in anger, his blood boiling. "At least I was brave enough to stay."  
  
With that, he stalked out of view. Marguerite collapsed, alone in the fire circle. She sunk to her knees and sobbed. 


	5. Mama and Dads

"Knock, knock," Finn announced as she ducked into Isabella's hut.  
  
"Finn?" Isabella questioned, looking up.  
  
"The one and only," Finn grinned, sitting next to Isabella on the low, jungle wood bed.  
  
"Why are you here?" Isabella asked, rubbing the tears out of her eyes.  
  
"We all came with your dad. We were worried, Izzy," Finn answered, glancing at the roughed up teenager. "I hear you've been keeping an awfully big secret from us for a while."  
  
Bella looked away. "From who?"  
  
"Gabrielle. She came back bitching about the slander you were making up against her and how she couldn't even begin to think of how you came up with such morbid ideas." Finn's voice took on the mocking tones of the nanny's accent.  
  
The little Roxton couldn't help but giggle lightly. "And you didn't believe her?"  
  
"I believe your side of the story, always. You shoulda come to me or Vee though. A long time ago."  
  
Isabella blushed slightly, but her discomfort was hidden as they heard raised voices from the main circle. Finn and Bella looked at each other.  
  
"At least they're talking again," the older woman offered lamely.  
  
"They aren't talking," Isabella sighed, "They're arguing."  
  
"Oh, that's just the way they communicate, Izzy. Don't sweat it," Finn fudged, trying to cheer her up.  
  
"No, Finn. It's different than before. They're really trying to hurt each other," Isabella responded, leaning back against the wall of the hut.  
  
Finn said nothing, listening to the shouting die down.  
  
"Where's Layton?" Bella asked after a few minutes.  
  
"With his family," Finn answered.  
  
Tears stung in her eyes and she closed them.  
  
"I'll go now. Get some rest, Izzy."  
  
"'Bye, Finn," Isabella yawned as her friend left.  
  
"Isabella?" a meek voice called from the doorway as Lady Roxton was settling into the bed.  
  
Unconsciously smiling, Bella responded, "Come in, Jane dear."  
  
The nine-year-old Jane Malone was dressing in a simple blue smock that matched her eyes and her perfect corkscrew blonde curls were pulled back bye a matching ribbon. Her appearance reminded Isabella of the way she'd dressed at that age, before Jack had died.  
  
"Hi," Jane said softly. Everything about the little girl was soft and gentle. The only one of them to be born and raised in New London, she was brought up into that society and didn't have Isabella's rebellious nature to avoid being sucked into the New Londoner view of girlhood. Bella just couldn't see Jane being in line to be a Protector of the Plateau.  
  
"How are you?" Isabella asked, patting the bed next to her. Jane ran to her and threw her arms around her neck.  
  
"I was worried about you."  
  
"Oh, Jane, you've been spending too much time with Layton. He's rubbing off on you."  
  
Jane grinned and remained cuddled in Isabella's arms until Roxton entered the room.  
  
"Good evening, Miss Malone, could I talk to my Isabella alone, please?"  
  
"Of course, Uncle John," Jane agreed, kissing Isabella's cheek and sliding off of the bed.  
  
"Jane dear, could you do me a favor?" Bella asked.  
  
"Yeah," Jane smiled, turning back to her surrogate big sister.  
  
"Tuck Nathan-boy in for me?"  
  
Jane grinned wider and nodded, leaving the hut.  
  
Silence remained between the two Roxtons for a few minutes. Then John Roxton took quick steps to his daughter's side and wrapped his arms around her.  
  
"I'm so sorry," he whispered, his eyes damp with tears.  
  
Isabella lost it and began to weep in his arms. "Dads."  
  
~*~*~  
  
Marguerite peeked into the small hut, wanting to see her little girl one last time before she disappeared for another five years. She saw her husband and daughter on the bed, Isabella asleep, her head resting on John's shoulder as he sat slumped against the wall, apparently sleeping as well. Walking as softly as she could, she crossed to them. She ran a gentle hand over Isabella's beautiful, bruised features. Of all the ways Marguerite imagined Isabella to be when she saw her again, this was never one.  
  
"My little girl," Marguerite whispered, "I wish things would've been different."  
  
She kissed her hand, then pressed it to Bella's forehead. "Good luck, little lady. Your daddy knows now. He'll make it better."  
  
"You're going now, aren't you?" a deep voice rumbled softly.  
  
She looked up to find Lord Roxton's eyes open. She looked away.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"She'll be very angry with you for it."  
  
"And you?"  
  
"I've gotten used to it," Roxton sighed, shifting under his daughter's weight.  
  
"Oh, John," Marguerite said softly, unwanted tears clouding her gray eyes.  
  
"Don't apologize. It doesn't hurt me any more. Just Isabella."  
  
She said nothing and swallowed the lump in her throat.  
  
"Look, Marguerite, I've loved you from the day I met you. Everything Bella said today is true. I've always loved you and I always will. If you can't commit or don't return my feelings, I can live with that. It hurts, but I've done it for five years. It is only Isabella that I am worried about."  
  
"I do love you, John. Both of you."  
  
"But you're still going," he said plainly.  
  
Marguerite nodded, kissed both of their foreheads, and left.  
  
Bella murmured a little in her sleep (which didn't surprise her father since she'd been doing it for as long as he could remember) then cried out in a pitiful, half-aware voice, "Mama!"  
  
Kissing the top of her head, Roxton whispered, "Sorry, darling, it's just us again."  
  
And Isabella seemed to be calmed by this statement, settling into her father's arms and becoming quiet again. From that night on, she called him her loving "Dads" once more.  
  
Author's Note: I really need some feedback guys! You've been slacking off and I may need to bag this idea if I don't get some more reviews! Please review! I'm not above begging. 


	6. Orchid

Though the morning bustle of the vital Zanga village woke Isabella rather early, she stayed in her bed with her eyes closed for long afterward. She'd woken up only once during the night when her father had left her to sleep by herself. Despite her lack of knowledge of the previous night's events, she had a bad feeling her mother wouldn't be there when she woke up. So she told herself she wouldn't wake up. The longer she was asleep, the longer she delayed reality. And that was all her life was about anymore, delaying reality.  
  
Reality, however, did not want to be delayed. This morning reality was in the form of Layton Malone.  
  
"Good morning, sunshine," he greeted, stepping into her small shack with a bright morning smile on his handsome face. His cheeriness stretched into his merry blue eyes and he infected Isabella with his glance.  
  
"'Morning to you, too, Mr. Malone," she yawned, trying to sit up without knocking her injured knee.  
  
"How are you doing?"  
  
"My mood has been considerably brightened by your presence," she smiled.  
  
He took a seat at the foot of her bed and shyly handed her a single orchid flower.  
  
"Thank you," she blushed.  
  
"Just trying to make your day better," he tried to shrug it off.  
  
"You're very sweet, Layton," she kissed his cheek and stood. "I'm hungry."  
  
"You're always hungry, Isabella," Layton commented, standing as well.  
  
Rolling her eyes, Isabella started to walk out of the shack. She still had a limp, though she was moving better on her own now and refused any help.  
  
"Isabella!" Cobi cried when he spotted her. Reaching her, he embraced her warmly. "Good morning. Did you sleep well?"  
  
"Pretty good," Isabella smiled, returning his embrace, flower still in hand.  
  
Letting her go, Jacobi glanced at the orchid, then to Layton, but said nothing. "Are you hungry?"  
  
"Always," Bella laughed.  
  
"Then by all means, let's go."  
  
He let Isabella walk a few paces in front of him as he walked right next to Layton.  
  
"What are you doing?" he asked, a bit of territorial-ness in voice.  
  
Layton gave him a confused look. "What are you talking about?"  
  
"The orchid."  
  
"What about it?" Layton played innocent.  
  
"You know how I feel about her. We're best friends, you and I, we don't need to be competing over a girl."  
  
"She's not just ANY girl, Cobi. She's our best friend. And you aren't the only one who has feelings for her," Layton said lowly. "She's not a prize to be fought over."  
  
Cobi muttered in Zanga under his breath. "We'll just let her decide, then."  
  
"May the best man win," Layton breathed angrily, speeding up his pace to talk to Isabella with the Zanga prince close at his heels.  
*~*~*  
During the course of breakfast, Isabella failed to notice the tension between her two best friends. The rest of the group, which included Nathan in Isabella's lap, the Malones, Challenger and John, however, noticed.  
  
Half way through breakfast, Finn entered the clearing and pulled Layton aside.  
  
"Gabrielle is outside the city gates and she's coming in," Finn said quietly enough so no one else heard.  
  
"What is she doing here?" Layton asked, glancing to Isabella as she whispered something in Nathaniel's ear to make him giggle.  
  
"It doesn't matter now. But since Marguerite is gone Isabella's going to be angry, very angry. With that sword strapped to her hip, Gabrielle may lose her head."  
  
"Is that such a bad thing?" Layton snorted.  
  
"Layton..." Finn warned, "Yes, it is. We can't have Isabella being a murderer."  
  
"So what do I do?"  
  
"I don't know. If she goes for her sword, distract her," Finn murmured urgently.  
  
"How?"  
  
Before Finn could respond, a very angry Gabrielle stormed into the clearing.  
  
"I see you've been abandoned again, Lady Roxton," Gabrielle sneered, looking around at the group around her.  
  
As Finn had predicted, Isabella's hand fell to her sword as a natural reflex as she stood to face the offender.  
  
Nathaniel scrambled off of the ground and stood at Bella's side, glancing back and forth between the two. Then the poor boy began to cry and Layton's little sister took him by the hand, lead him away, and cuddled him in a corner.  
  
In that time, Layton hurried to Isabella's side in case she made any further move to draw her weapon.  
  
"No smart response, Isabella? No witty repartee?" Gabrielle pressed, trying to get a response from her. Her eyes were glazed, her strawberry blonde hair a mess, and her voice a tad bit slurred.  
  
Everyone else around the circle stood as well, unsure of what to do.  
  
"Nathaniel, sweetie, come to Mum," she mumbled on.  
  
Nathan whimpered in confusion and burrowed into Jane.  
  
Isabella's eyes flashed and the sword began to pull from its sheath. That's when Layton intervened in the first way that came to mind.  
  
He took a step in front of her, blocking her view of Gabrielle, gently took her face in his hand and kissed her, surprising the entire village and causing Finn to comment, "Creative."  
  
Taking advantage of her distraction, Layton took the sword from her grasp and let it fall beside them.  
  
He pulled away reluctantly, his blue eyes barely glistening with joyful, embarrassed tears.  
  
"I'm sorry," he whispered in her ear.  
  
"Whoever said boys don't cry?" Isabella whispered back to him with a slight smile on her face, burying her face in his shirt, since he was three- quarters of a head taller than she was. And then she cried. Through it all she had shed very little amount of tears and now the whole reservoir spilled over and onto Layton's shirt.  
  
The rest of the group was shocked. Cobi's face was angry, brooding as he took a step away from them. Roxton nudged Malone with a grin. Finn and Veronica exchanged somewhat confused, somewhat amused smiles. Nathan poked his head from Jane's arms and shared a giggle with her. Gabrielle cried out angrily and turned to walk away. Two Zanga warriors grabbed her by the arms and stopped her.  
  
"Lord Roxton, what do you want us to do with her?"  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Okay, so I'm a M/R shipper, but I just LOVE Layton and Isabella. That is no guarantee they'll immediately end up together though. You guys should know my now I don't do anything IMMEDIATELY. *wink* Review! The more reviews, the faster I write the next chapter. 


	7. May the best suitor win

Jacobi cleared his throat, gaining Isabella and Layton's attention.  
  
"Layton, could I speak with you? Alone?" he asked in a loud whisper, motioning to a less crowded area of the village.  
  
The two teenage boys headed in that direction as everyone else's attention focused on Isabella. She blushed and laughed nervously.  
  
"Um, I'm going to go make sure they don't hurt each other," she announced, dashing off after them.  
  
Finn snickered and everyone's attention turned back to Gabrielle.  
  
"Lord Roxton?" one of the Zanga warriors holding her prompted.  
  
"I want to ask her a few questions. Bring her here. Jane, could you take Nathan somewhere else?"  
  
"'Course, Uncle John. C'mon Nathan-boy. I bet Riptide and Abby need to be fed."  
  
The younger children disappeared into the people. Disgruntled, Gabrielle eyed John angrily and warily.  
  
"First, Miss Woods, I must ask you to remove that ring from your finger. Our engagement was over the moment I found out what you did to my daughter."  
  
Gabrielle complied reluctantly, egged on by the warriors' tight grip on her arms. She threw the diamond ring at his feet. His Marguerite would be appalled at such ill treatment of a precious jewel.  
  
"Second, you will answer this question," he continued, folding his arms in front of him and walking slowly towards her.  
  
"Shoot."  
  
"I'm tempted," he chuckled. "But in all seriousness, who really is Nathan's father?"  
  
"The son of an Amazon," Gabrielle admitted, biting her lip.  
  
"Why did you say he was John's?" Ned Malone queried.  
  
"So Nathaniel would have a decent, well-to-do home."  
  
"Where you could beat an innocent girl?" Veronica asked, loathing in her voice.  
  
Gabrielle turned away.  
  
"Get out of here," Roxton growled.  
  
The warriors released her and she started to walk away.  
  
"Aren't you forgetting something?" John asked her when she was few paces out.  
  
"Keep him. He loves you and Isabella more, anyway."  
  
Everyone's mouth fell open in shock.  
  
"Bitch!" Finn swore under breath.  
  
With that, Gabrielle was out of everyone's lives.  
  
~*~*~  
  
"What was that?" Cobi growled, spinning around to face Layton when they came to an empty section of the village.  
  
"I had to stop her from pulling the sword on Gabrielle," Layton defended, telling part of the truth but trying to withhold the second half. He, however, wilted under Cobi's hard gaze and continued, "And she's a great kisser."  
  
"I don't want to hear that!" Cobi cried, raising his hand to rub his temples. "Not that I disagree, but still! Come on!"  
  
"I'm sorry! It's not my fault I'm attracted to her, too!" Layton replied. "I care for her just as deeply as you do."  
  
"I doubt it," Jacobi frowned. "Nevertheless, it is obvious me both love her."  
  
"She's not even your age."  
  
"Nor is she yours," Jacobi countered.  
  
"Closer to mine."  
  
"She's thirteen months older than you."  
  
"Two years younger than you."  
  
"Then I guess it boils down to whether she likes older or younger men."  
  
"She's way too delicate right now to do this to her. We can't make her chose," Layton reasoned.  
  
"But can all of our friendships survive her not deciding?"  
  
"Could they handle the decision?" Layton countered sadly.  
  
In their musings and arguing, the two friends failed to notice Isabella listening to them barely out of sight. How had it come this far? She knew better than to let her friendships with both of them escalate to this level. She loved them both! How could she chose? Even if she could, what would become of her friendship with the other? Or the chosen one if things went sour? One thing she promised she wouldn't do was run away from the situation. She didn't have that much of her mother in her.  
  
"I love you both," she spoke up to them as she rounded the corner.  
  
"Isabella," the boys said in unison, turning to face her, visibly straightening up.  
  
"How long have you been listening?" Layton continued.  
  
"The whole time. I followed you to make sure you didn't hurt each other," she admitted.  
  
"Well, I hope we've made you proud, not a bunch was thrown," Cobi grinned to her as she crossed to them.  
  
"Very proud," she nodded, reaching up to give each a kiss on the cheek. "I'm sorry. I just can't choose right now."  
  
"We know," Layton assured her. "I just don't know how this will work though. Things are different now."  
  
"We'll share you," Cobi smiled, looking over her head to Layton. Layton shrugged in return. "After all, we live in different villages. We'll just have to curb our jealous male tendencies."  
  
"At least until you can decide. We'll have some healthy, friendly competition. That is if you are okay with that," Layton expounded.  
  
Isabella laughed through the screen of remaining tears that still clouded her eyes, hugging both at the same time.  
  
"If it works for you."  
  
"We'll try not to kill each other," Jacobi assured her.  
  
"Isabella!" Nathan's cry interrupted the discussion. "Bella!"  
  
"Nathan-boy," Bella smiled, wiping the rest of her tears off and waiting for the impact of Nathaniel's running hug. "Hey, buddy."  
  
"Hi," Nathan grinned up from hugging her leg. "Can we finish eating now? Jane and me finished feeding the horses. I'm hungry!"  
  
"Okay," Isabella sighed, grabbing his hand and glancing back over her shoulder at her boys. "Let's go finish. C'mon, Jane dear."  
  
Isabella left with the two younger ones, leaving Layton and Cobi to themselves.  
  
"Let the wooing begin," Cobi said, offering his hand to Layton.  
  
"May the best suitor win," Layton replied.  
  
~~**~~  
  
Author's Note: Okay, girls, raise your hand if you would absolutely adore being shared by Layton and Cobi *raises hand and looks around* I'm dead serious! Dang that'd be awesome. ( On another note, I'm curious as to whom the public is rooting for in this  
  
friendly competition. It won't affect my over all decision, 'cause I already know who she ends up with, but I'm still curious. Leave your comments if your review, por favor. Gracias! Thanks for wonderful reviews! 


	8. Sanctuary

The New London crowd returned to their city in the afternoon, a long caravan of horses picking their way along the trail that had sprung up between the Zanga village and New London. Isabella carried Nathaniel behind her and Layton shared his horse with his younger sister. Lord Roxton lead the way, with the children following him and Finn bringing up the rear behind the Malones and Challenger.  
  
When they entered the city it was early evening and Isabella was exhausted. She came into her room to find that Henry and Edythe had completely cleaned and rearranged her room. She was amazingly thankful for that because many things about the room tended to remind her of Gabrielle.  
  
That bitch for leaving Nathan like that, she thought, dropping her things by the door and hobbling over to her bed. Even in leaving she couldn't keep from hurting people. How the hell was Isabella supposed to raise an abandoned five year old? Actually, come to think of it, she'd been raising poor Nathan for years. Still....  
  
Despite the day's events, the last person on Isabella's mind as she drfited into a restless slumber wasn't Nathan, Gabrielle, Layton, or Cobi; it was her mother.  
  
~*~*~  
  
"The Lady sleeps ill at ease tonight," Henry sighed, emerging from his young mistress's chamber with the day's laundry.  
  
Edythe, a maid who had been with the Roxton family since its arrival in New London, looked up sadly, gathering young Nathan's clothes from the sleeping boy's door. "As well M'lady should. Her lady mother appears from no where then disappears again into the night. Aye, and she also ran Miss Woods from our midst. Poor Nathan-boy, his mum abandoning him to the Lady's whim. She that Gabrielle hurt every day must now decide the child's fate."  
  
"Yet our Lady chooses to keep the boy here, continue to raise him as he's been raised for years. It is her kindness that saves him from an orphanage."  
  
"And her trust in Him, perhaps, that has kept her going through the cruelty," Edythe added, motioning toward heaven with her eyes.  
  
They dumped the soiled clothing in the washroom.  
  
"Edythe, say a prayer for our Lady tonight, that He shall ease her pain and clear her mind."  
  
"As always, Henry. 'Tis the same prayer I've said every night for our poor Lady."  
  
~*~*~  
  
The pipe organ bellowed its hymn and the congregation joined in, standing and holding their hymnals up.  
  
Isabella, Nathan and John sat in the normal Roxton front pew, where the family had been sitting since moving to New London. Layton was in the pew behind with his family.  
  
As with any good Anglican church, there was much sitting, then kneeling, then standing. It was like a morning aerobic exercise. Isabella went through the motions as any good girl raised in the Church of England does, out of instinct. She felt no emotion in the reciting of the Lord's Prayer and the Apostle's Creed, nor did she feel the nerve-tingling sense of awareness as she crossed herself. Her mind remained blank during the Prayers of the People and her lips moved themselves through the hymns. All this scared Isabella.  
  
Church had been the one constant for Isabella and had served as her sanctuary. She'd never known Gabrielle to set foot inside the church. She probably would've been struck down where she stood if she had. Church had always //meant// something to her because through it all she never stopped believing that her God would save her.  
  
Today, now that He finally had, her words of penitence and praise rang strangely false because she was undeniably //distracted//. Distracted by the feeling of Layton's eyes on her. Distracted by the situation she'd landed herself in with her two best friends. Distracted by the fate of abandoned Nathaniel. //Distracted// by memories of her mother.  
  
She had so many of those in the very pew she now sat in. There were permanent scuffs on the wood from Jack and Isabella's younger days, from warm mornings when they just honestly couldn't sit still another second longer. That was when their mother would help them escape through the back door. It was the same pew that she had slipped off of her first Sunday morning and hit her head on the marble floor. Her mom had to bribe her with tons of sweets just to get her back into the sanctuary. And then suddenly the church had become a far better place for the four-year-old because of the funny faces her mum greeted her with. It was because she liked going that her faith had grown. Her mother, the most unreligious person she knew, had begun Isabella's own faith journey.  
  
Now that she'd seen her mother again and had all of these memories returned, Isabella just couldn't pull her mind from the hurt, anger and despair of being left behind once again.  
  
Somehow the service ended and she filed out, attached to Nathaniel's hand to pull herself along. Layton caught her arm and turned her to look into his concerned eyes.  
  
"Let's talk," he offered his arm and disconnected her from Nathan. Pointing towards a group of boys kicking a ball around, "Look, Nathan-boy. Christopher and Harry are playing football."  
  
Nathan smiled and ran off.  
  
Isabella just nodded and linked her arm with Layton's while still in her half-aware state. He could see the tears gathering at the corners of her eyes but she quickly called them into retreat as they left the hubbub of the departing congregation.  
  
~*~*~  
  
"I hate her!" she cried angrily. The silver tray hit the wall and clattered to the hard wood floor of the manor.  
  
"Don't lie, Isabella. You're horrible at it," Layton replied coolly as he was nonchalantly lounged on a sofa pushed against the back wall of her room.  
  
"I shouldn't be!" she raged. "Not with my genetics. I should be an expert, my mother being who she is."  
  
"Shut up," he sighed. "You know very well you are nothing like her. Jack was always more like your mother."  
  
"He was never a sneaky, lying, back-stabbing snake who would leave me the first-chance he got," she sighed, plopping onto the bed.  
  
"No, he wasn't," he agreed, never taking her blue eyes from her as she got up again. She was pacing, barely listening to his comments.  
  
She was beautiful, he thought, even when she was mad. Maybe even especially then, when fire lit her steel gray eyes and anger rosed her cheeks.  
  
"I can't believe I //wanted// to find her! What was I thinking? Just setting myself up for loss and heartbreak. Didn't I have enough?"  
  
His eyes drifted from her figure to her cheek again, now laced with tears.  
  
"Oh, Bella," he sighed, his heart clenching tighter. It killed him to see her cry. She looked at him, in one second morphing from a fiery brand to a broken little girl.  
  
Layton stood, going to her and enfolding her in his arms. Isabella let her lead fall to his shoulder and sobbed, every breath rocking her frame.  
  
"Shh," he soothed, rubbing her back, running his knuckles up and down her spine. "Just let it all out."  
  
"Doesn't she love me? Doesn't she want me? I'm her daughter! She's supposed to...."  
  
"I know, I know. I don't understand either." He kissed the top of her head.  
  
The door opened behind them and Layton looked over his shoulder.  
  
"Bella," he whispered in her ear. "There's someone here to see you."  
  
She lifted her head and wiped the tears from her face. Half-laughing, she looked into his eyes and smiled.  
  
Leaning up to his ear, she whispered, "Thank you," and then kissed his cheek.  
  
Stepping from behind him, she saw who was at the door and stopped.  
  
"Mother."  
  
"Isabella."  
  
"I thought you left."  
  
"I didn't get very far."  
  
"Why'd you come back?"  
  
"For you. And your father."  
  
"You could've done that a long time ago."  
  
"I thought I had to deal with my demons on my own."  
  
"And now?"  
  
"I realize that I should've stayed and worked them out with my family."  
  
"If you could leave us, we were never your family."  
  
"Isabella!" Layton objected.  
  
"Shut up, Layton," she scolded, not turning from Marguerite.  
  
He backed away, not wishing to incur her wrath.  
  
"I wish it weren't so. I take all blame for what happened. Jack, leaving, even Gabrielle!"  
  
"No," Isabella stonily interjected. "Jack's death is no one's fault. And Gabrielle happened after you were gone."  
  
"But I hired her.."  
  
"And Father screwed her and didn't notice my bruises."  
  
Their identical gray eyes were in a staring match now.  
  
"The only thing you are responsible for is abandoning me, perhaps the worst to be stuck with."  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
The words hung in the air between them.  
  
"It doesn't even begin to atone for anything. They are meaningless, empty words. But if it makes you feeling even a tiny bit better, I apologize."  
  
Isabella turned away slightly, regaining her composure. Layton saw this action and smiled reassuringly at her.\  
  
"If it makes you feel any better, it does. A little. And I'm partial to starting to forgive you," Isabella said bravely, turning back to her mother.  
  
"Thank you," Marguerite whispered.  
  
Isabella grinned that Roxton smile.  
  
"Father!" she called, moving past her mother to the door. "Dads! Tell Henry to set the table for one more!" Then she continued. "C'mon Layton, you're coming with us."  
  
"What? Where are we going?"  
  
"To Professor Challenger's. He's been keeping some stuff for me."  
  
Marguerite and Layton exchanged a puzzled look and followed the girl they both held dear out of the door. 


	9. Letters

Author's Note: I'm finally back! Oh this one makes me cry! Get out those tissues! We're one away from the end, so though you may cry, remember my promise, this one will end _much _happier.

            "Professor Challenger!" Isabella cried, ducking past a whirling machine and avoiding knocking over a batch of chemicals bubbling over. "Professor, I've brought in the lost sheep."

            "Isabella, what _are _you talking about? I'm much too busy for games now. I'm so close," George Challenger returned, his mind too engrossed in an experiment to look up at his new visitors. When he finally did look up, he brightened visibly and fumbled to shut off his Bunsen burner. "Oh, my dear Marguerite! It is so wonderful to see you."  He made his way through the cluttered laboratory to them and enfolded Marguerite in a large hug. 

            "I'm here for good, George," Marguerite assured him.

            "Professor, we're here for the letters," Isabella said conspiratorially.

            "Oh! Yes, of course." He released Marguerite and began to shuffle through his drawers. "Where did I put them? I know they're here somewhere. Oh damn this old age. Aha! Here we go. Wonderful."

            Challenger presented Bella with two bundles of tattered letters. "There you are, dear."

            "Thank you very much. We'll take them outside."

            "Oh, any time Isabella," George grinned. "Mr. Malone, I could use some help with my experiment."

            Inwardly, Layton groaned but he politely agreed, knowing Isabella needed some alone time with her mother. 

~*~*~

            Isabella and Marguerite wandered into Professor Challenger's vegetable and exotic plant garden. They found a small wooden bench that Jack and Layton had made with their fathers for Challenger's birthday years ago and sat down.

            "These are letters. Letters I wrote once a year on the anniversary of Jackie's funeral. One stack is addressed to you, the other to Jack. I want you to read them all, just to somewhat understand who I am now."

            Marguerite glanced from the letters in her lap to her very grow-up daughter.

            "Isabella, this is such a part of you. I mean, the ones to Jack…… I wouldn't want to stick my nose where it doesn't belong."

            Isabella half-laughed. "You're my mother; your job is to stick that nose into all of my business. Besides, when you're done with Jack's, I want you to come with me to his grave. That's your penance."

            There was a touch of amusement tickling her voice though her face remained rather serious.

            "If you insist," Marguerite sighed, unwrapping the first bunch.

~**********************************************~

Age 9

Dear Mum,

            You're not here and I don't know why, but I'm sure you'll come back. Today was Jack's funeral. Dads cried with me for a long time. The sun does seem to shine as brightly any more.

Love,

Bella

Age 10

Mummy,

            I wish you would come home. Gabrielle scares me sometimes because she gets so angry. Her baby will be born soon, but I don't think it's Dads's. I miss you.

Love, 

Isabella

Age 11

Mum,

            Why aren't you here? Everything would be better then. Dads has started to treat me like it's all my fault and Gabrielle….. Mum, she hurt me last night. I love you, Mum, please come home.

Hopefully yours,

Isabella

Age 12

Dearest Mother,

            It has been almost three years now and my thirteenth birthday is fast approaching. I can barely remember who I was before Jackie left us: a carefree kid without any bruises. I am so different now. To Father I have dropped off of the ends of the world. To Nathaniel I am the world. And to Gabrielle I am the world's best punching bag. I no longer care why you left, I just want you home.

Love,

Isabella

Age 13

Mother-

            Four years, Mother. Four years. Where are you? I have spent a year looking for you and now, on the ever of the big one-four. I have almost given up hope. The rest of my world has. I hold your title, Mother; I am the Lady Roxton. I love you and want you home, but the betrayal has become more evident as I get up in my years.

Yours,

Isabella

Age 14

Mother,

            I guess this'll be the last letter for a while. I don't think I'll have time to waste writing to you as I wander. If I find you in my travels, wonderful, but I've stopped looking. Doing the impossible is no longer one of my talents. Gabrielle must have beaten it out of me. I fear her. I fear for my life. This is what you've left me to. I couldn't live with myself if I were you. But you know nothing of this so I guess that makes it easier to be guilt-free. The Professor told me about your days as the Black Widow of Vienna in the Great War. I guess I should just be happy Father has yet to meet an unfortunate end, unless you include marrying Gabrielle as one. I hope that if you read these some day I'm not dead and you don't think I hate you. I don't. Well, not exactly. I'm just……. confused. Why did you leave?

Lady Isabella Elizabeth Roxton

~********************************************************~

            Marguerite looked up at Isabella but could barely see her through the tears. 

            "Why don't you hate me?"

            "Because you are my mother. I thought I hated you. Honestly, for the past few months I really thought I hated you. Obviously I've always loved you, it's a natural law, but up until recently…"

            "What happened recently?"

            "Oh, this will sound crazy and no one believes me, but here it goes. I went back in time. To before you and Dads were married. And I saw you, when you were still a bit cold and closed off to people, and I got to see you from a different perspective, met you as a woman and not my mother. I don't know, Mum, I just… It is honestly very hard to explain. Hell, fifteen minutes ago when you showed up my room I was _ranting_ to Layton about how much I hated you. And then it clicked. I haven't forgiven you yet, but then again it took me a week to forgive Layton for eating my cookie, so it could be a while," she managed to crack an adorable Roxton smile. "And I want you to take your damn title back."

            The _real Lady Roxton laughed through her tears. It was a talent Isabella had acquired years ago, making people laugh when they were crying. Especially her mother. Isabella strongly believed she was one of the only people who had ever seen her mother cry. _

            "There you go, Mum. You're much prettier when you smile. You know, they say I look like you." Isabella let the implications of her statement hang in the air for a while and then they both chuckled lightly. 

            "Keep reading," she then gently commanded, motioning to the next stack.

Marguerite reverently picked them up and began to read. Like the other bunch, the first started with the large, messy print of a child and ended with the beautiful script of a young Lady. The last one made her lose any semblance of composure with it's brutal honesty and emotion written in such an exquisite way.

~********************************~

Dear Jack,

            Father marries tomorrow. It is as if he is saying there is no more hope of Mother returning. Perhaps he is right. But I fear that when Gabrielle is married to him and has my title, she will no longer see a need for me. Indeed, precious little brother, I fear for my life. This may be my last letter for a whole. I may not return to New London. I may stay with Cobi, but I may be found there. Still, I know he will take care of me. I am sick of hurting. I am sick of life. Sometimes I wish I could join you at His side. I'm sure Heaven is a lovely place. Don't worry, darling, I know that would be a mortal sin in His eyes, but sometimes I have to wonder… I will wait until my time to see you again. I love you my dearest baby brother.

For the last time,

Every ounce of my love,

Lady Isabella Elizabeth Roxton

~***********************~

            "How do you still believe in God?" was all the mother could manage.

            "I have always had my faith, Mum. It's all I've had sometimes. Some people lose it in times of strife, but if I had lost mine, I would have had nothing."

            "You actually considered suicide?" 

            Through her crying, she felt like she needed to vomit. Her daughter, her darling flesh and blood, the amazing mix of herself and John, contemplated ending her life, partly because of her.

            "My faith was all that saved me."

            The silence remained. 

            "I want to go to Jackie's grave and burn his letters. I need to. I need you to go with me."

            "Oh, Bella, I don't know if I can."

            "Have you ever been?"

            "I was at his funeral, Isabella."

            The daughter stopped mid-rise from the bench. "What?"

            "I watched. From a distance. It was the last I saw of you and your father. Until the Zanga village. I saw the pain you were all in, felt the pain I was in, and I had to get away from it all. I don't think I ever meant to be gone for five years, but once I was gone, I couldn't gather the courage to come back."

            Isabella threw her arms around her mother and hugged her more tightly than she ever had. "I love you, Mum. I _need_ you, Mum"

            They made their pilgrimage to John Richard Roxton, Jr.'s gravesite.


	10. Welcome Home

            The small fire burned in on itself and smoked into oblivion. The letters were gone and on their way up to Jack now and for a moment the smoke formed a tether between this world and the next. Isabella could almost feel her little brother standing next to her, but when she looked over she only saw her mother. She still couldn't help but smile. 

            "This is what Jackie would've wanted.  He loved you so much, Mum."

            Marguerite slipped her hand in her daughter's and squeezed. "I know. Isabella, I'm glad to be home."

            "Speaking of home, Dads will be awfully angry if I miss dinner. Besides, I'm starved!" she grinned, expecting the usual "you're always hungry" response she got from everyone.

            "That hasn't changed," Marguerite mumbled, distracted by the realization she would have to face her husband now.

            "Come on," Isabella called, realizing she was half was down the path and her mother remained.

            Marguerite broke from her reverie and followed slowly, lost in her thoughts. The last time she'd seen John….. The argument and then the confrontation in Isabella's Zanga hut replayed in her mind. Hurtful things had been said. Hopefully time would begin to heal their wounds. 

            As they reentered New London, stone pavement replaced the dirt path they were following and lead them down the main street. Ladies in the street paused in confusion looking at the duo, but the young children stopped to talk to Isabella. The older boys grinned and tipped their caps, hurrying on about their errands.

            "Gabrielle was right about one thing," Marguerite broke the somewhat comfortable silence that had rested between them. 

            Isabella involuntarily shivered. "What's that?"

            "This whole town loves you."

            "No. They love the Lady Roxton. They can love you for a while now," Isabella smiled.

            "I doubt it," Marguerite countered, "I saw the looks those boys were giving you. I recognize those looks, I had my fair share of them." 

            Isabella blushed. "Mum, trust me, I have enough boy trouble as it is."

            "Layton and Cobi?"

            The teenager shot her a 'how did you know?' look.

            "I'm not blind, Isabella," Marguerite grinned lightly. 

            Before she could retort, she held a hand out and stopped her mother, quieting her. She pushed her off to the side and motion to Finn exiting from one of the row houses along Main Street. 

            In a hushed whisper, she explained, "It's a game Finn and I play. It's going to be hard with this damn knee, but I think I'll manage. Stay here, all right? I'll give you a signal when I'm done."

            Marguerite cocked a brow but nodded her daughter on.

            Approaching the steps to the row house as Finn looked the other way, Isabella leapt as best she could, flipping over the railing and behind Finn, cursing softly at the pain in her knee. 

            "Heya Finn!"

            Finn spun around. "Damn! You got me, Izzy. What is that? Are we tied or what?"

            "I think I'm ahead by one now, but I'll have to ask Layton, he's keeping score."

            "Cool," Finn grinned, nudging Isabella slightly. "Why are you so happy and out and about?"

            "I have a visitor," she said cryptically. 

            "Izzy, you're sounding like your mother and that scares me!"

            "Funny you should say that Finn," Marguerite called, appearing in full view of the pair.

            "Marguerite!" Finn's eyes widened in pure shock and then she turned to Isabella. "Are we happy she's back?"

            Isabella nodded earnestly. "Pretty happy."

            "Great!" Finn exclaimed, leaping down the stairs to enfold her old friend in a bone crunching hug.

            "Finn, please don't break her, I just got her back. Dads hasn't seen her that. If you break his Marguerite, you're going to have to answer to Lord John Roxton."

            _His Marguerite, Lady Roxton repeated in her head. Would all Isabella had said about her father that day in the Zanga village still be true?_

            Cringing, Finn released the older woman. "Sorry there, Marguerite, just a little excited."

            "It's fine, Finn. I'm glad to see you all again under happier circumstances."

            "Where are you off to, Finn?" Isabella asked.

            "The Malone residence for dinner, hopefully with all of them if your young suitor isn't waiting for you at your door." She winked at Isabella.

            "If he is, I'll send him home," Isabella grinned. "And tell Aunt Vee and Uncle Ned about our good news."

~*~*~

            Isabella slouched back on her bed, the ice-filled rag she'd gladly accepted from Henry balancing precariously on her knee. Her parents were out in the sitting room talking, civilly she hoped. Dinner had been a bit tense, with Isabella supplying most of the conversation, but the look on her father's face when his wife and daughter had walked up the path to the Roxton home together was priceless. He was _happy_, Isabella knew. There might be some anger and resentment, but he wanted her home.

            Oh but her knee was killing her!

            There was a soft knock at the door. 

            "Bella?" the small voice called through the door. 

            "Come in, Nathan-boy," she smiled. 

            The strawberry-blond boy tiptoed into the room and slipped onto the edge of the bed. 

            "How's your leg?" he asked quietly. 

            "It's fine, Nathaniel. Don't worry about it."

            He raised his blue eyes to meet hers and they were welled with tears. Nathan was fighting so hard to stop himself from crying and it just wasn't working.

            "Hey, you," Isabella grinned, patting the bed next to her. He scrambled up and under her arm and she finished, "I'm sorry your mum left. But I'm going to take care of you, I swear."

            He burrowed his face in her side and let a few of his tears out before whispered, "Love you, Bella."

            "I love you, too, my Nathan-boy," she grinned. 

            Someone cleared his throat in the doorway. "It is time for Master Nathaniel to be put to bed, my lady."

            "Okay, Henry. Go on, Nathan, I'll see you in the morning."

            Nathaniel kissed her cheek and tumbled off the bed, running before Henry out of the room to get ready to sleep.

            "Henry," Isabella called as he turned to go. 

            "Yes, Lady Isabella?"

            "How are things going with my parents?"

            The butler winked at his mistress and nodded knowingly. Isabella grinned and winked back.

            "Goodnight, Henry."

            "Goodnight, my lady."

            Before Isabella could think about anything else, her window opened and her Aunt Veronica rolled inside. Giving her a strange look, Isabella commented, "We do have _doors_, Aunt Vee."

            Veronica Layton Malone smiled at the girl and sat down on her bed. "I know, but I wanted to see you before I saw your parents."

            Isabella laughed. "Layton told you about the trellis?"

            "Yes he did," Veronica grinned, "And now I'm going to make sure he doesn't sneak out of his window anymore."

            Isabella rolled her eyes and sat back.

            "So, your mother is back," Veronica said.

            "Yes, she is."

            "Is this a good thing or a bad thing? I need to know before I go see her."

            "We'll see about that when I wake up in the morning. If she's still here, it's a good thing. If she isn't, it's a bad thing. I'm just acting like it's a good thing so she'll feel welcomed. So she _will_ be there when I wake up in the morning."

            Veronica's face lit up a little. Isabella knew she wanted to go see her "big sister". 

            "Go, shoo, Aunt Vee. Go see Mum. Careful, it could be a battle field out there."

            Veronica winked and headed out of the door.

~*~*~

            In the morning, Isabella woke to the bustle of the kitchen staff readying breakfast and the maids doing their morning chores.

            "So sorry, my lady," Edythe apologized when she noticed her tidying of Bella's room had woken her.

            "It's okay," she grunted, batting her gray eyes to the morning sun as Edythe undid the curtains. Remembering the previous day's events she blinked her eyes again and called for the maid as she left the room.

            "Yes, Lady Isabella?"

            "Is my mum still here?"

            "I haven't tidied the guest bedroom yet, so I don't know."

            Isabella filled with a fear that she might be gone, but bit it back and smiled. "Thank you, Edythe. I'll check for myself."

            She mused about the chambers her mother at slept in the night before as she slid into her royal blue robe. Her father was being cautious after the Zanga village. Neither of them wanted to be left again. 

            As she left her room, she spotted Layton playing with Nathaniel in the foyer. He spotted her and winked, allowing her to finish what she had to do. Her bare feet felt the cool floor boards beneath her as she took small steps towards the guestroom door. She reached for the brass handle, turning it gently and, taking a breath and saying a prayer, opened the door.

            The room was empty.

            Isabella's heart sank and she almost started to sob then and there. Left behind again.

            "What are you doing?" an amused whisper asked in her ear. 

            She would know that voice anywhere. Her heart immediately soared back up and she turned to see her mother with a jovial smile and an arched eyebrow, coffee in hand. Isabella threw her arms around her mother.

            "You're here!"

            Marguerite returned the embrace. "Yes, I am. And I plan to be for a very long time. Careful of the coffee, Bella. And you're squeezing me to death."

            "Sorry," Isabella grinned like the Roxton she was, releasing her mother. "We should celebrate. Let's go for a picnic. Just you, Dads, and I."

            "Okay, under two conditions."

            "Name them."

            "One, you get dressed. Two, we bring Mr. Malone."

            "If you mean Layton," Isabella teased, "You have yourself a deal."

~*~*~

            They picnicked in a beautiful clearing half a mile outside of New London, on a hill that overlooked the small town over the tops of the tree. 

            When lunch was through, they remained relaxed on the blanket. The Lord and Lady Roxton were thinking about their previous night's conversation. There had been tears and confessions and in the end, they knew they need to be together. Obviously, many issues needed to be worked out, but they loved one another and they absolutely adored their daughter. If nothing else could keep them together, she could. 

            Isabella Roxton, finally title-less, watched her parents as they watched each other adoringly when the other wasn't looking. She would have giggled, but it would have given them away and they were much too cute to do that to. Isabella was the happiest she had been since her brother's death and she knew why. The whole time she had had wonderful friends and a usually great father. But now she had the last piece of the puzzle. Her mother was home. For good.

            Sensing her parents' need to be alone, Isabella uncurled her legs and stood. She tapped Layton's knee as she grabbed a wildflower, wearing a mischievous grin as she whispered, "Walk with me."

            Unfolding his lanky frame, Layton hurried to catch up with her, following her into the woods at the edge of the clearing.

            "Look at that," Roxton commented with a wry smile, watching them run playfully across the Plateau meadow. "He'll be chasing her for awhile if she's anything like her mother."

            "But Lord Roxton, the chase is half the fun," Marguerite smiled flirtatiously, basking in the happiness of being around him once again. She hadn't truly realized how much she'd missed him.

            "Oh, I heartily agree, Lady Roxton."

            "All this warm weather and bright sunshine breeds young love."

            "What about old love?" John questioned from his lazy position on the blanket, grinning like a Cheshire cat up at her.

            "I don't know about that. I don't see anyone old around here. Challenger and Ned are back in town."

            He laughed, leaning up as she leaned in to steal a kiss.

            "Good to have you back."

            Running a hand through his graying brown hair, she answered, "It's good to be back."

~*~*~

            Meanwhile, Isabella and Layton strolled through the jungle, Bella twirling her violet bud between her fingers.

            "It's been so long since I've seen you this happy."

            "There's something uniquely right with the world when your parents are in love,"  
 Isabella smiled at him, the sun playing off of the golden streaks in her brown hair.

            They walked so close their shoulders brushed from time to time, causing each of them to blush. Their idle conversation touched schoolyard gossip and cocktail parties, New London politics and distant memories.

            After a while, Isabella stopped and turned to Layton.

            "Thank you, Layton," she said, touching his cheek lightly. "For being there through the rocky years."

            "It's not a problem," he answered, looking down as his cheek turned red under her fingertips. "I'd never leave you high and dry." He paused. "Besides, why wouldn't I be there for the most beautiful girl in New London?"

            She laughed. "You're rather charming for one so young as yourself."

            "You are not one to talk. You're barely over a year older than me." He grabbed her fingers in his as they retreated from his face.

            "I'll be fifteen in three days."

            "I'm fourteen right before you," Layton grinned.

            He only response was a whole hearted smile as she took a step closer to him. Layton's heart began to pound so loudly he could feel it through every inch of him, but in such close proximity to Isabella, this was normal.

            Twirling the flower once more, she gently tucked it into the button whole of his partially unbuttoned shirt. Then she lifted herself up to reach his lips, innocently brushing hers against his.

            "Layton! Isabella! We're heading back."

            Isabella pulled Layton into a tight hug. When they parted, their hands remained entwined and they headed back towards her parents.

~*~*~

            That night as his daughter settled into bed, Lord John Roxton knocked on her door. 

            "Come in, Dads," Isabella grinned, knowing it was her father because they hadn't yet had the chance to really talk about Marguerite.

            "Just came to say goodnight," John said to the only person alive who meant more to him than his wife.

            "And to talk about Mum."

            "You see right through me, Isabella. You get that from her."

            "And I've lived with you my entire life. I know you better than you think I do, Dads."

            "I'm sure you do," he laughed, sitting down on the edge of her bed. "Bella, I know things are still a little rocky between us."

            "Dads, I forgive you, honestly."

            He quieted her with a gentle wave. "I know it won't be as easy to forgive your mother. I haven't quite forgiven her yet, but…"

            "I will, Dads. We all will. We'll heal and grow together. As a _family. Something that should have happened a long time ago. But better late than never, right? Go, spend some time with your wife; I know that she's sleeping in your room tonight, I just prefer not to think about it." She made a somewhat fake grimace._

            Roxton tousled her hair and bent in to kiss her forehead. "Goodnight, darling."

            "Goodnight, Dads." Wrapping an arm around his neck, she kissed his cheek then fell back onto the bed.

            "And Dads," she said to his retreating back.

            "Yes?"

            "I love you."

            "I love you, too, Isabella."

            Her door closed momentarily only to be opened again as her mother entered. 

            "My, I'm getting the full service tuck-in tonight," she joked. 

            "Just came in…"

            "To say goodnight, right?" Isabella grinned. "Goodnight, Mum."

            "Goodnight, little lady," Marguerite said to her daughter, kissing her cheek. She turned and went to the door. Pausing with it half way open she said, "Oh, and Isabella, I love you."

            Isabella giggled and blew her an overdramatic kiss, her arm moving grandiosely. "I love you, too, Mum. Welcome home."

            Lady Marguerite Roxton, mother of Isabella and Jack, caught her daughter's kiss and winked at her. 

~*~*~

Author's Note: *stares at computer blankly.* And it's over. Well, this one is at least. Wow. These string of stories has been filling my mind and I can't believe two are actually _done._ I want to thank all of you so much for supporting me. I'm heading off for vacation until the end of the month. Hopefully during this time I'll get the first chapter of the third story written for you. Tune in next time to watch the explorers finally get back to London….


End file.
